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[Dead Man]

I disagree with you on everything but the marketing. It was marketed incorrectly, no doubt, and there were people who I'm sure felt cheated by that. That's intentional misleading though, not a lack of understanding..

The producers and cast knew what was going on. Well, maybe not Van Diem and Richards. They might have been legitimately confused. :lol If they were, it just added to what Verhoeven was going for.

Maybe, but I will not admit that Van Diem or Richards had any clue! :lol

 

[genjiZERO]

What did you get? Did you get that it was anti war in general, or did you actually get all the ways in which this is indicated, because I will freely admit, I had to watch it a few times as an adult to 'get' it. And I still think it's a terrible film.

Well, maybe I have it wrong, and maybe especially so in light of the book and the author - or maybe just opposite. But the film seemed to me to be critique of American exceptionalism, American cultural myopia, and the quasi-religious reverence towards militarism. It also seemed to distill everything that is wrong or problematic about American military culture. Anyway, that's what I always thought it was about . . .

 

[Dead Man]

Well, maybe I have it wrong, and maybe especially so in light of the book and the author - or maybe just opposite. But the film seemed to me to be critique of American exceptionalism, American cultural myopia, and the quasi-religious reverence towards militarism. It also seemed to distill everything that is wrong or problematic about American military culture. Anyway, that's what I always thought it was about . . .

Yeah, that's what I take out of it.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

fellowship of the ring is so much better than the boring ass book

 

[genjiZERO]

fellowship of the ring is so much better than the boring ass book

That's nice. The films were really made for people who write comments like this

 

[JayDubya]

Lord of the Rings would be my No 1-

Actually, yeah, this is the correct answer. I've always loved the Hobbit, but have long considered the LOTR books to be the greatest sedative ever invented.

 

[DrForester]

Well LotR book ending kind of fell apart.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Seeing the amount of seemingly smart GAFfers in 2010 who still don't get Starship Troopers makes me feel a little better about the majority of critics who reviewed the film in 1997. Most of you are too young to remember, but the first wave of criticism was mostly negative. It wasn't until the film was released on DVD that it got a fairer appraisal.

You know, Verhoeven has been nominated for an Academy Award. He's not exactly a dummy. He also grew up in the rubble of WW2.

Oh, and he made fucking RoboCop, a comic-book movie with no original comic-book, that is better than most comic book movies.

 

[MattKeil]

Seeing the amount of seemingly smart GAFfers in 2010 who still don't get Starship Troopers makes me feel a little better about the majority of critics who reviewed the film in 1997. Most of you are too young to remember, but the first wave of criticism was mostly negative. It wasn't until the film was released on DVD that it got a fairer appraisal.

Fucking word. I saw ST at a press screening before release and loved it absolutely to death. Thought it was hilarious and great satire. Then the reviews came out and savaged it, and nearly everyone I knew saw it and thought it was either too stupid to be entertaining (those who thought it was serious sci-fi action) or offensive (those who did not understand it was a satire of propaganda and war porn). My claims that it was in fact intended as satire were dismissed until the DVD was released with commentary from Verhoeven flat-out stating it was satire, at which point the dismissal was altered to include the notion that Verhoeven was now saying he meant it as a satire to cover up having made an atrocious film. You just can't win sometimes.

Lord of the Rings would be #1 on my list, but Starship Troopers would be a very close #2.

 

[Muerte_X]

All this talk of Starship Troopers has made me want to watch it again. I loved it.

Does anyone know if the sequels are any good? I'm sure they're shit since I just now realized that they exist, lol. But just curious if anyone had seen them.

 

[Mr. Sam]

Regarding Scott Pilgrim, I think the books and the film compliment each other well. I wouldn't enjoy either so much if both didn't exist.

 

[JayDubya]

While I don't see how anyone could miss the satire elements, I also don't see how anyone could call it not rubbish. It's pure schlock.

ST is much more on par with Showgirls than it is with Robocop.

 

[Count Dookkake]

All this talk of Starship Troopers has made me want to watch it again. I loved it.

Does anyone know if the sequels are any good? I'm sure they're shit since I just now realized that they exist, lol. But just curious if anyone had seen them.

Second one is a decent little siege movie, but does not have the humor of the original. Not recommended to fans of the first; maybe die-hard genre fans. Written by Ed Neumeier, directed by Phil Tippett.

Third one is pretty good. Lots of laughs throughout. Adds religion and music into the mix. Not bad for DTV. Written and directed by Neumeier.

ST is much more on par with Showgirls than it is with Robocop.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Showgirls and Starship Troopers feel like intentionally paired films to me.

Spoiler

Note that the female lead vomits on the audience at roughly the same time in each film. Not sure what that means, but I like it.

 

[Muerte_X]

Second one is a decent little siege movie, but does not have the humor of the original. Not recommended. Written by Ed Neumeier, drected by Phil Tippett.

Third one is pretty good. Adds religion and music into the mix. Not bad for DTV. Written and directed by Neumeier.

Thanks for the info, I'll go ahead and check them out.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Blade Runner sucks, Dick's novel is amazing.

 

[MattKeil]

While I don't see how anyone could miss the satire elements, I also don't see how anyone could call it not rubbish. It's pure schlock.

Hmmm...

:checks:

They sucked his brains out.

 

[Tacitus_]

Thanks for the info, I'll go ahead and check them out.

They also somehow managed to make special effects in the third movie worse than in the first.

The religion aspect of the movie however was hilarious. And the Sky Marshal at the start :lol

 

[jman2050]

Jurassic Park's novel owns, and is certainly not inferior to the admittedly really good movie.

 

[n0b]

I dunno. DAD was a pretty straight-forward detective story. thought I BR did a better job of questioning what is means to be considered "human". Just the thought that Deckard could be an android in the film ads a layer of complexity missing from the book.

I apologize for cracking ahead of time but I can't stand to see this kind of shit. I'm fine when people are just praising the visual style of the film, or the music, all of that is great. Blade Runner had some of the best production design in a film ever, and it rightfully inspired the visual style of a whole genre. But the story of the film is the most shallow, colossal bore I have ever seen in my life when compared to the second coming of Christ that every idiot seems to think it is.

The film had no fucking complexity at all; the story was completely boiled down to "waaah discrimination." It completely removed the importance of empathy, emotion, and how those relate to the humanity of the characters. In the film, the androids are a stripper and a bunch of manipulative but ultimately mindless killers. They show no subtlety in their actions, they only show emotion when the plot suddenly lacks any motivation for their actions.

The movie doesn't add the thought that Deckard could be an android, it removes all depth from that struggle in the book and instead just says outright hey Rick is an android. The book provides enough evidence for either Rick being human or android to be proven or disproven. It is up to the reader to decide whether they think Rick is human or not. The entire book was about those contradictions, how humans could behave like androids, how androids could seem like humans, how these contradictions put Ricks entire existence as a bounty hunter into question. The entire meaning of the book was in how nearly every character exhibited both human and inhuman traits.

Oh and that wonderful scene in the movie that everybody loves with the rain and the doves. The dumbest fucking plot hole in the whole movie. Protip: If humans have light speed travel, then they would probably have the technology to either fix up the backwards ass shithole that was earth or else get the fuck off the planet. If they didn't have light speed travel then Roy wouldn't have had to worry about his fucking lifespan if he didn't waste his whole life traveling to Orion to watch a light show. Sure, fine you could say that earth was left behind when the rest of humanity left and learned to travel 800 light years from the planet, not only would it probably not be a good plan to go to the most backwards planet in civilization to get an upgrade, and even if he did his creator would have been long dead.

I didn't expect the film to have much depth, after all the Ridley Scott didn't even have the reading comprehension to finish the 200 page book his film was fucking based on. I would have at least expected him to be able to make something interesting out of the book though. Its sad because the actual action in the book was more exciting, so if they would have just stripped the book of its depth but left the plot you would have had heads exploding, shootouts, reality completely disintegrating and tons of devious mindgames between Deckard and the Androids. The Mission Street Hall of Justice sequence is an amazing and tense bit of storytelling, and the final battle in the book is just brutal. Ridley Scott showed in Alien (which, unlike Blade Runner, is an amazing film on every level) that he knows how to handle tension, pacing, action, and plot twists wonderfully. All of those things were present in the book and I'm sure would have been awesome when combined with the skill of the art department and the skill that Scott shows when he is actually making a movie that is worth a damn.

To sum up:

Blade Runner sucks, Dick's novel is amazing.

Also, JP the book is better, but that film is one of the best adaptations around, and still has never and probably will never be surpassed in terms of special effects.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Jaws is a shitty book and Peter Benchley was a shitty author. Amazing that they could make a classic movie out of it.

 

[VGChampion]

I personally liked Jurassic Park better as a book. Each their own I guess. If you haven't read the book you're doing yourself a disservice.